How to Find Yourself
by Adsdragonlover
Summary: My first ever fanfic. The story of Erica, the daughter of Hiccup and Astrid. A terrible tragedy occurs and leaves Erica with a fear of dragons. Tired of being looked at like a kicked puppy, she decides to set out to prove herself, and find herself on the way. Read and REVIEW PLZ! :)


**How to Find Yourself**

Disclaimer: I do NOT own How to Train Your Dragon. It is the property of DreamWorks; this fanfiction is purely for your entertainment. I repeat, I do NOT own How to Train Your Dragon. Thank you.

Prologue

It was a night that the people of Berk would joke about later on, but really everybody loved it. Because this was the kind of night that hardly ever happened on Berk, especially after dragons became normal residents of Berk. It was silent. It was a beautiful spring night, with a charming view of the stars. Normally everyone would be outside enjoying the view, but not tonight, tonight everyone was inside treasuring the silence while it lasted. Sure enough, half an hour or so later, at about 9:30 pm, the silence was cut short by a scream. The sound could be traced to one of the houses. Inside were Astrid, Hiccup, Toothless, and Stormfly. But there would soon be another member of the family.

"Its okay, it's okay. Don't worry, it's gonna be okay." said a frantic Hiccup.

"Hiccup I'm not worrying, it's fin-" "AHHHH!"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." stuttered Hiccup.

"Hiccup, stop, you're making me nervous."

Well, lets just say that after a lot of screaming, it all died down, and when everyone opened their eyes there in front of them lay an adorable baby girl. She had green eyes like Hiccup, and a thin layer of yellow hair like Astrid's. Her eyes were wide open, and when she opened her mouth, instead of crying, she giggled, a pure sound that made everyone lean in closer. Astrid scooped up the tiny infant in her arms and gently rocked her. She giggled again and wrapped a tiny fist around Astrid's braid and pulled gently. She let go as something else caught her eye, Hiccup. Astrid sat up in the bed and held the baby girl out to Hiccup, who took her gently.

"She's so cute." Hiccup said, and kissed the top of her head making her laugh. He then held the baby's arms, and held them out to Toothless. The lovable night fury took an instant liking to the little girl and smiled his classic toothless smile that was greeted with a laugh from the infant. "This is Toothless." Said Hiccup in a goofy voice.

Then Hiccup took the baby to Stormfly, who flicked out her tongue and licked the baby affectionately. Hiccup even placed her on Stormfly's back and make swooshing sounds to make it look like the girl was flying.

"Hiccup, give her to me. We have to decide on a name." Hiccup happily obliged, and sat down on the bed next to Astrid and handed her the baby. Astrid was about to whisper the name to Hiccup when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Before Hiccup could get up to open the door, Stoick opened the door and walked in. he looked around, and spotted the baby. He rushed over and picked up the baby. "As you know, as chief it is my duty to see the newborn, and learn the name so I can officially make them a part of the tribe, but this little one is special. Hi, I'm your Grandpa Stoick. So what is her name anyway?" asked Stoick rather quickly.

"Dad, how many times have I told you that just because you knock, it doesn't mean you can just walk right-"

"Actually, Stoick, I was about to tell Hiccup her name, so if you just sit down next to us I'll tell you too." Interrupted Astrid. So Stoick sat down and Astrid whispered the name to her father-in-law, her husband, and her daughter.

The next morning Stoick, Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, Stormfly, and the baby stood on a stand to announce the baby into the clan.

"Today we are here to welcome our newest member to our tribe. I'm proud to present Erica Haddock as Berk's newest member!" This speech was met by wondrous applause.

As a result, Erica grew up with dragons.

As Erica grew older, it became quite obvious how much she had in common with her parents. Besides physical features, Erica was like Hiccup in brains and smarts. She was also like Astrid in, well, toughness. But there were many things that were just her. Her love of nature, for example, was slightly Hiccup and slightly Astrid, yet still unique to just her. Many afternoons were happily spent with dragons, her parents, and occasionally her grandpa, Stoick. She loved dragons and all of nature. She was also a village favorite, and everyone loved to see her. It was also discovered at a young age that she loved fruit. About a month or so before Erica turned two, Hiccup came home with a surprise for Erica.

"Erica, I have a surprise for you." Hiccup said when he came home that day. Erica looked up from her toys, jumped up to her feet, and ran over to her father.

"Daddy, Daddy! What is it? What is it?" Erica practically shouted as she jumped up and down. Astrid gave her husband a questioning look. Hiccup gave Astrid a small nod to say that all was well before turning to his daughter.

"Well, I got you a new kind of fruit." Hiccup said as he pulled a green, orange, and red fruit from behind his back. "This is called a mango." Hiccup said and he handed her the fruit. She was about to bite into it when Hiccup stopped her. "No, you're not supposed to eat it like that you need to cut it first." Hiccup explained to his daughter. He then went into the kitchen and sliced the exotic fruit. Erica ran over when she saw that her dad had finished. Hiccup picked a slice and handed it to Erica, who ate it quickly. She chewed it thoughtfully then stopped, her face falling. For a moment Hiccup was worried that she didn't like it.

"Daddy," she said. "This mango stuff is AMAZING! But the problem is that now pineapple isn't my favorite fruit anymore." Erica said and a grin appeared on her face. She ran over and gave Hiccup a big hug. Then she twirled around in the room and was about to go outside when something Hiccup said stopped her.

"Erica, wait. I got you one more thing too." Erica then ran over to Hiccup, held out her hands and closed her eyes. What was placed in her hands was small, tiny even. It felt smooth, but not completely smooth, it had a bit of fuzz on it too like it was fuzzy once but was changing to smooth. She instantly recognized it as a bird, but what kind? She desperately wanted to know.

"Can I open my eyes now?" she asked.

"Okay, now!"

When Erica opened her eyes and looked down at the bird in her hands, she gasped and giggled with delight. It was a hummingbird. It was yellow on the body, which faded into red on the head, wings, and tail. She instantly knew what to name it.

"Mango! That's what I'm going to name her. Thank you, Daddy."

"Yep, and hummingbirds are special. Do you know why?" Erica shook her head no, but she couldn't wait to find out. "Well, hummingbirds hum, like you know, but they have a special kind of hum that only dragons can hear. It's kind of like a dog whistle. Oh, right you don't know what that is. So, Mango here will always be with you, and if you're ever in trouble or need help, she will make a special hum that will basically call Toothless and Stormfly to you to help you out. She's both a friend and someone to help you out when you need it. You're very lucky Erica." Hiccup said, enjoying how her eyes widened at every word he said.

"Thank you so much, Daddy!" Erica said and she ran out the door with her new friend Mango.

"Told ya." Hiccup said to Astrid, smirking a little bit. Astrid laughed, life was perfect.

As a rule, whenever a child on Berk turned two, the age of two was called the terrible twos. The child also had to be called a "terrible terror" for the whole time that they were two years old. Today was Erica's birthday and she was turning two. If only Hiccup and Astrid knew how truly terrible the year of the twos would be for their precious Erica.

Erica twirled around in the sunshine, enjoying the freedom being two came with. At age two, she was also allowed to be alone, as long as she wasn't too far away from her parents. She lay down on the nice cool grass and breathed in deeply, the smell of fresh air, wildflowers in bloom, and fresh dew from the previous night's rainfall smelling wonderful. She closed her eyes and listened, the world around her was alive. She could hear the bees buzzing, the roar of the nearby waterfall, the gentle wind rustling the trees, the frogs croaking, the dragons nearby roaring. It was all so peaceful and amazing. It was perfect for her birthday. It all sounded like music. She sat up. "Come on, Mango! Let's dance!" She got up on her feet, Mango by her side, and started dancing. She closed her eyes and twirled and whirled around, following where the music of nature took her. She skipped and jumped, and was a happy sight. She only stopped for a moment. When she did, she opened her eyes, giggled and laughed, spinning around, her eyes and her body following Mango. She then stopped, the sunshine shining on her like a spotlight, took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs. "I'M SO HAPPY!" She was a sight of pure joy. She closed her eyes and started dancing again. She twirled around, giggling all the way. The roar of the waterfall got louder, making her dance quicker. She didn't know how close she was to the waterfall. She jumped in the air and spun around. It was beautiful. When she landed, she stumbled, then tripped over a rock, and opened her eyes to see Mango rushing toward her, and then she fell backwards off the edge where the waterfall was, screaming as she fell. Mango didn't waste a moment. She quickly hummed the special code to call Toothless and Stormfly, making it as loud as she could go. Erica screamed as loud as she could, and being only two it was pretty loud.

Toothless and Stormfly perked up at the sound of the hummingbird code. It definitely got Hiccup and Astrid's attention, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't until Erica's scream filled the air that Hiccup and Astrid finally realized what was going on. They hopped onto their dragons and sped off toward the hummingbird code and where the scream had come from. They could only hope that they weren't too late.

Erica was falling quicker now, and was getting closer to the bottom. She could hear wingbeats, so she screamed again louder this time in the hope that it would make her parents come faster, to make them hear it. Well, they did hear it and they did go faster, but they weren't the only ones who heard the scream.

Erica was now dangerously close to the bottom. Then she saw Toothless and Stormfly, and her parents! She filled up with hope and called out to them, "Mommy, Dadd-" but she was cut short. A dragon flew out from the waterfall, roaring. It then snatched the falling Erica from the air with one gigantic claw. Its claws were sharp, and were the size of knives. Its wings were long, huge and blood red. It was so terrifying that she didn't have time to notice the rest of the details. The dragon opened its humongous mouth and lifted Erica up to its mouth. She screamed so loudly that she almost passed out from all of the energy the scream took. Before she passed out, the last thing she saw was the dragon's gaping mouth ready to eat her, and in the distance, though her vision was getting blotchy, two more dragons with lumps on their backs. She whispered "Help me." And then she passed out.

Hiccup and Astrid were going faster then they'd ever gone before. Toothless shot a plasma blast at the dragon. Yep, that got its attention. It turned and roared at them, dropping Erica, and changing its attention to the two dragons attacking it. Toothless and Stormfly flew down and caught Erica in the nick of time only moments before her limp body fell on the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall. Toothless caught her by her arms, while Astrid jumped off of Stormfly and onto Toothless. Astrid grabbed Erica, who was still unconscious and pulled her up. She handed her to Hiccup and then jumped back onto Stormfly. The Dragons rose up in the air super fast and away from the dragon. Astrid grabbed Mango, who was hovering nearby, and they sped off toward home.

When Erica came to, she was gasping for breath, shivering and drenched. She sat up and quickly wrapped her arms around her parents. She was sobbing. She closed her eyes and tried to take deep breaths. She looked up and saw Gothi, Berk's wise woman of sorts, Stoick, Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff, Fishlegs, Gobber, and practically everyone from the village. Then she saw the dragons. She screamed immediately and hid her face in Hiccups vest, her breathing was rapid and shallow, and she managed to sputter, "G-g-get those things away from me." She said. Hiccup and Astrid were shocked.

They had explained everything to Gothi before pouring the water on Erica to wake her up. Gothi nodded knowingly and tugged on Hiccup's vest. He and Astrid looked at Gothi. "I-I-I don't understand, she loves dragons." He looked expectantly at Gothi, who was busy scribbling strange symbols in the dirt. Astrid, who was experienced in translating "Gothi speak" gasped as she read what it said.

"What does it say?" asked Hiccup.

"It says that the experience was so traumatic for her that she can't remember anything involving dragons before that, and has a fear of dragons." Astrid said and she gasped.

That, you see, happened eleven years ago. This is my story, the story of Erica Haddock.

**Hi everyone. This is my fist EVER fanfiction. I'd like to give some shout outs.**

**LuvStruckWriter: You are the author of my favorite fanfiction. Keep the chapters coming. You are the inspiration to me to write fanfictions. Thank you.**

** This author also has a httyd roleplay/forum and it is awesome. Thanks to everyone who is part of it.**

** This is my first ever fanfic, like I said and it would be VERY appreciated if you could give reviews. It will keep me going. When I need help or ideas for the storyline I will put HELP\IDEAS NEEDED. But anyway thanks for reading, and I will try to keep the chapters coming. Remember this is only the prologue.**


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